2025 World Photographic Cup
I am honored to represent the USA in the 2025 World Photographic Cup (WPC). The image, “Intertwined” was selected as one of 3 images in the Natural Portrait category as part of the 30-image Team USA. Images were selected from thousands of submissions to International Photographic Competition and Merit Image Review at PPA.
On December 17, WPC announced the the top-10 finalists per category, and guess what?
FINALIST!!!
The final rankings for the 102 finalist images will be announced in March at the WPC Finals in Quito, Ecuador. Stay tuned! There were two ties in scoring that led to top-11 in two other groups.
“Intertwined” is also a finalist in the 2025 International Photographic Competition, and will be on display at the International Photographic Exhibition alongside other top photographic works from the competition at Imaging USA in Grapevine, Texas, on February 1-4, 2025. This image is still awaiting final judging at IPC, which will be held on February 2, 2025. Until then, I will not be sharing this image on social media.
“Intertwined” — WPC 2025 Finalist Image
Reflections on my WPC Journey
I never saw myself as a WPC photographer. Then I got an email from Rich Newell telling me an image, “Intertwined”, was being considered for the USA Team. He needed to know if I met the citizenship criteria. I was floored. I was honored to have been considered but didn’t think it was going any further.
Then I got the email congratulating me on being on the team. Wow. Just wow!! Our image would be scored by a team of about 50 judges (one from each country participating, minus the USA judge). Our photograph was one of three Natural Portrait entries for the USA. I was thrilled and thankful to have been asked, and I would have a cool jacket as a memento. Life was good.
Becoming a Finalist
I watched the finalist announcement on December 17 to see how our team fared and to be ready to send messages of congratulations to the other photographers. I could not believe it when our image was selected as a finalist. All these incredible photographs and photographers, and the judges thought our photo was one of the ten best natural portrait images from around the globe. I can’t describe the emotion of this experience.
Reflections on the Journey
I do know that every artist can relate to this journey. Unfortunately, we are predisposed to protect ourselves by telling ourselves to expect to lose. We are also hard-wired to ignore most of the positive feedback we get. A part of our brain filters the massive volume of information we receive to ignore the noise and things that aren’t threats. So, yeah, part of my brain tells me this is a one-and-done; we got lucky. But my more self-aware self is more optimistic for the future. This image is the direct result of our collaboration to translate the boundless power of dance into something magical in the millisecond when the shutter clicks.
I Stand on the Shoulders of Giants
This moment could not have happened without Katherine and Antony working diligently to make this image a reality. It also could not have happened without each dancer who shared their journey and artistry with me. You are all part of this story. Thank you from the bottom of my very whole heart.
2025 WPC Finalist Announcement
There is a lot of amazing photography here. It is worth the time. Enjoy the announcement for WPC 2025 Best of Nation and Finalists below if you prefer a video.
Some images are NSFW.
The final rankings for 2025 will be announced in Quito, Ecuador, at the Zero Latitude Convention in mid-March.
About the World Photographic Cup
WPC represents 50 countries this year, and each country supplies one judge to score the images (a judge will not evaluate submissions from their own country). The 15 top photos in each category will be announced on December 10, 2024. The top 3 medal winners and the winning country will be announced at the convention of the host country in Quito, Ecuador, in March 2025.
Founded in 2011, the World Photographic Cup brings together photographers from around the globe to compete in their National Team for the honor of bringing the Cup home. Additionally, WPC rewards individual excellence with gold, silver, and bronze medals in each category.
Fine Art Photography
Andrew Bowen Studios’ goal is to help artists thrive. When a Fine Art Photo sells, 20% of the net proceeds go to the dancer to support their career.